I AM the Resurrection & the Life

Introduction

We have passed the halfway point in our “I AM” Sermon series and we are going to be entering the last three I AM statements: I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and I am the true vine.

John 11:25–26 (NIV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

This is a question that still rings true today. “Do you believe this?” This question will set the course of how you live your life. If you believe that there is life after death, it has potential to change the way that you live. If this is all there is, it also has potential to set the course for how you will live your life. What decision you make about life after death will determine whether or not Jesus was just a figure in history or if He is God.

Today, we will look at the story of Lazarus.

What do we know about Lazarus?

We know that Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus who lived in Bethany. He had two sisters that lived with him: Mary and Martha. The strange thing is that we probably know more about Mary and Martha because of the story of Mary sitting down listening to Jesus while Martha was working in the kitchen. It’s not hard to tell that they were close to Jesus because Martha spoke her mind. Here’s the story,

Luke 10:38–42 (NIV)

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.

She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,

but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary, Lazarus’ and Martha’s sister, was the one that washed Jesus’ feet with the expensive perfume and dried them with her hair.

Let’s be careful

Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Jesus knew what was going to happen, but He told His disciples that Lazarus’ sickness was for God’s glory so that Jesus would be glorified through it.

A discussion ensues about going back to wake Lazarus. Two things come from this: The disciples thought that if Lazarus is sleeping, he’s going to get better. The other conversation was whether or not it’s safe for Jesus to go back to Judea.

I wonder if any of them thought that Jesus should just speak the word and heal Lazarus from the other side of the Jordan. “Jesus, don’t you remember the centurion’s servant that you healed. If I were you, I would do it that way.”

Let’s put ourselves in the disciples shoes for a minute. They didn’t understand that Jesus wasn’t going to set up an earthly kingdom. Here’s a man that speaks and the seas obey him. He touches the sick and they are healed. He breaks bread and He feeds thousands of people. They understood the here and the now, but they couldn’t understand the here after. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, in their minds this kingdom would depose the Roman Empire.

The disciples knew that a dead Jesus wouldn’t throw off the rule of the Roman Empire. The Pharisees, the religious leaders want to kill you, “You can’t go back!”

Lazarus is dead

John 11:14–16 (NIV)

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus had told them that Lazarus was sleeping. Greek or Aramaic must be a lot like English. One word can mean so many things. Paul the Apostle often used the word, sleep, to symbolize death.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

I have performed and been a part of many funerals since I have been in ministry, but only once have I ever had someone want to raise somebody from the dead. I’m not opposed to somebody being raised from the dead. I see where it happened in Scripture, and I have heard stories of God raising the dead.

In this particular case, I don’t think that it was for the benefit of the one that died unless he wasn’t saved. Bernie had lived a hard life, but he claimed to be a Christian. His ex-wife and the mother of his children struggled with her mental health and he told her son many times to just end her life.

His daughter who had endured much of this trauma wasn’t quite ready to let Dad go, so she called the funeral home and told them what she wanted to do. Mark, the funeral home director, and I had a conversation and decided to let her pray for her father, and if it was God’s will to raise Bernie from the dead, it would happen.

God can raise the dead, and one day He will raise the dead. The dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. When someone is raised from the dead, it is solely to bring glory to God.

Getting back to our story, when the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I am going there to wake him up.” He made it very clear, “Lazarus is dead.”

I am the Resurrection and the Life

Hope for the Hopeless

Martha

John 11:17–27 (NIV)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

We all need hope. You could tell me story after story about somebody that needs God’s touch. One of my friends just got word that his wife has a bowel obstruction that the doctors can’t do anything for. You might be going through a tough time, but when we don’t have a leg to stand on we need to stand on the Word of God.

Romans 15:13 (NIV)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we lose people that are close to us, if they knew Jesus, we have hope that one day we will see them again.

1 Corinthians 15:54–58 (NIV)

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

When Jesus spoke to Martha, He gave her hope that this isn’t all that there is. He gave her hope that Lazarus would come back to life again. Paul said that if this is all there is, we of all people are most to be pitied, but Christ has been raised from the dead.

Jesus said,

John 11:25–26 (NIV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

What did Martha say?

John 11:27 (NIV)

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Mary

John 11:28–37 (NIV)

After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”

When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There’s a couple things here that I see about Jesus: He was moved by Mary’s sorrow. Jesus wept.

Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

The KJV puts it this way:

Hebrews 4:15–16 (KJV 1900)

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Secondly, Jesus went to the tomb. He went to the place of her grief. Jesus is moved with compassion for your suffering and He will also go to the place of your grief. He’s not too busy to carry your sorrows.

Isaiah 53:4 (NIV)

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Raising the Dead

John 11:38–44 (NIV)

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

This miracle showed the people of Jesus’ day that Jesus could not only calm a storm, feed the hungry, and heal the sick, but He had power over death.

What must have it been like to have been standing there? The stone, the stink, the angst. Then Jesus calls out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, Come out!”

Is there something that you’ve been asking God for? Is there something that you have been praying for, for a long time and you are wondering if only Jesus would show up and do something?

Lazarus was sick, and then He was dead for four days. Hopes were dashed. They knew that if Jesus had been there sooner, He could have done something, but...

With God All things are possible!

No matter your situation or what the things might be that you have been praying for, With God All things are possible!

Verse 44 says:

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Jesus didn’t leave Lazarus standing there tied up in his grave clothes, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” He who the Son sets free is free indeed!

Take Home points

Jesus empathizes with us in our times of weakness

He meets us where we are in our times of grief

With God All things are possible

We can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.

To close,

1 John 5:14–15 (NIV)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Amen.